One or more access points located within a subscriber premise may provide wireless communications and/or services to one or more stations configured to communicate with the one or more access points. Stations may include WLAN (wireless local area network) systems configured to transmit and receive wireless communications from an access point or other wireless device. The WLAN systems may include a plurality of antennas, wherein each of the antennas may include a receiver and/or transmitter for facilitating the receiving and/or transmitting of wireless communications over a wireless communication medium. Each of the antennas may include a separate low noise amplifier (LNA) and programmable amplifier (PA). With multiple antennas, a station may be configured to communicate over a plurality of spatial streams by utilizing a plurality of transmit and receive chains. The multiple transmit and receive chains in the device, along with the processing of multiple WLAN streams can be a significant source of power draw in a station. For many stations, specifically small form factor clients, this may be a significant burden on the overall system power dissipation, resulting in poor performance and potential thermal problems. Even while a station is operating in receive only mode, the LNA devices may have a significant power draw for a small low power device.
WLAN streams may be configured in multiple configurations. For example, each stream may include an independent part of a bit stream, or multiple streams may contain the same information leading to a beam forming effect on the resulting RF (radio frequency) signals. Each active stream may have an associated power draw, thus the more streams active, the higher the overall system power draw. Therefore, it is desirable to improve upon methods and systems for managing power draw at a station related to a number of active WLAN streams.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.